I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 48

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When he opened his eyes, he saw the narrow, shabby room of the monastery.

The cool air characteristic of dawn filled his lungs.

Edwin let out a sigh and turned his gaze following the dim light seeping through the window.

He could see Elisia’s face sleeping peacefully.

‘It’s a dream.’

He knew it wasn’t reality.

It was the same as always, a cruel delusion showing him wishes that could never come true.

Nevertheless, Edwin quietly approached so as not to wake Elisia, sat on the floor and rested his chin on the bed.

Her soft, low, comfortable breathing calmed his anxiously beating heart.

‘She’s safe.’

She’s here.

Even if it was just a dream, she was within his reach. She was somewhere he could safely protect her.

Reassured, Edwin carefully took hold of Elisia’s hand resting on the edge of the bed, as if handling a sugar doll that would easily break with the slightest pressure.

In truth, it would be more accurate to say he barely touched her with his fingertips rather than actually holding her hand.

Even so, Edwin let out a deep sigh at the fullness rising deep in his chest, when suddenly he opened his eyes at the unpleasant coldness he felt at his fingertips.

A sticky smell of blood stung his nose.

‘Ah.’

This isn’t the monastery.

He was now standing in the middle of that terrible space in the deepest underground dungeon of Lombard Castle, completely cut off from the world.

Edwin’s breath caught, and he suddenly looked down at the floor.

Small objects on the black stone floor caught his eye.

What he had been holding more preciously and carefully than anything else in the world just moments before was lying there forlornly, clotted with blood.

Exactly ten pieces.

‘This is a dream.’

He didn’t want to go any further.

But his legs were walking forward regardless of his will.

He saw a handful of fallen hair. The warm brown hair he had loved was torn out carelessly and rolling around the corridor.

‘This is a dream.’

Edwin was running before he knew it.

His breath rose to his throat and his vision shook helplessly.

Thorn-studded whips, blackened branding irons, blunted pliers and metal tools that had clearly been used beyond their intended purpose.

Passing by those things scattered messily on the floor, Edwin ran desperately.

He knew the ending of this eternally repeating dream.

‘I don’t want to see it.’

At the end of the long corridor was a rusty iron door.

Edwin stood blankly in front of it, feeling the sticky liquid seeping out from under the door gap soaking his toes.

The unlocked door opened slowly with a creaking, spine-chilling sound.

The metallic smell stung his nose.

Though his stomach turned at the terrible stench, his body desperately embraced the form left forlornly in the pool of blood, regardless of his will.

That thing which could hardly be called human anymore.

‘No… Open your eyes. Please, please look at me. I was wrong. I was too late… Please, no… Aaaahhh!!’

He couldn’t save her even in his dreams.

No, was this even a dream to begin with?

The smell of blood stinging his nose, the coldness of the stone floor seeping into his bones, the stickiness under his feet, and even you who wouldn’t answer no matter how much he shook and called.

When everything was so vivid, could it not be reality?

Edwin screamed. He screamed and screamed again.

Until no more sound came from his throat, until all the blood vessels in his eyes burst and the whites turned red.

Something indistinguishable between blood and tears wet his cheeks.

“…”

Edwin opened his eyes.

He saw a familiar ceiling. The ornate ceiling with the black dragon, symbol of Lombard, painted on it—his bedroom.

“No wonder I fell asleep so easily.”

He slowly sat up.

As he swept up his bangs that blocked his vision, he irritably struck the nightstand.

Anger that was hard to suppress completely stirred through his mind.

Nevertheless, Edwin gritted his teeth and suppressed his anger for a while, but eventually roughly grabbed the great sword hanging on the wall and left the room.

* * *

“Lord Ramon, what brings you here at the crack of dawn?”

“It’s not Ramon.”

“Pardon?”

“My name is Agent No. 2, I’m carrying out a classified mission!”

Count Baron stared at this Agent whatever-his-name-was who had suddenly blocked his path as if he were looking at a lunatic.

Though he had much to say, let’s first look back at the situation before Administrative Chief Ramon appeared. Count Baron had been spending quite depressing days recently.

When Count Alnor’s lawsuit first broke out, the Duchess’s reputation among the bureaucrats had hit rock bottom.

Rumors spread that it would be a disgrace that would remain in Lombard’s history, and that His Excellency would somehow divorce the Duchess or confine her to the confinement tower.

If it had been just this, Count Baron wouldn’t have particularly tried to distance himself.

However, the bureaucrats’ condemning gazes began to pour onto the Baron, who had received great favor from the Duchess—though whether Elisia would agree to this was another matter.

‘Damn, I thought I had grabbed onto a good rope, but it was a rotten straw rope!’

Count Baron, who belonged to the lowest-ranking nobility among the retainers, had a tiger-like wife and rabbit-like children to take care of.

Ah, the weight of being a family head.

The Baron, who had become frightened, began avoiding Elisia from that day.

He tried not to make it obvious, but it probably showed anyway.

Even if he was called ungrateful, it was an unavoidable situation.

But as if understanding the Baron’s situation completely, the Duchess began keeping her distance from him from that day, and the bureaucrats’ murmuring gradually died down.

Count Baron felt pangs of conscience.

Though he had been promoted and his salary increased thanks to Elisia, along with self-reproach for being ungrateful, the tiger waiting at home and the adorable rabbits kept coming to mind.

‘Not going against the tide’ was Count Baron’s lifelong survival secret in pursuing a long and steady life.

‘Who knew the lawsuit would be resolved so quickly!’

While he was unable to do this or that and only deepening his worries, Elisia presented a groundbreaking negotiation proposal and settled the conflict with Count Alnor at once.

The Baron tried to return as the Duchess’s close retainer, but her side was already guarded by the two major mountains of Bertol and Ramon.

There was even a powerful guard named Berry.

There was no room at all for someone like the small and precious(?) Count Baron to squeeze in!

In the end, the Baron could only gaze wistfully at the Duchess from afar and bite his handkerchief.

“The reason I became Agent No. 2 is… No, let’s set that aside for now. You said you have a wife?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes, that’s correct.”

“An arranged marriage?”

“A bit embarrassing to say, but it was a love marriage.”

The Baron, awakening from his recollection, answered the sudden question anyway.

But why was it that Ramon snapped his fingers as if everything was finally falling into place?

“Agent No. 3, the Chief Chamberlain and I are currently carrying out a classified operation.”

“Who’s No. 3 all of a sudden… No, why are you looking at me? Don’t tell me it’s me?!”

“His Lordship is currently at the training ground. As you well know, when His Lordship takes up his sword, dignity and radiance overflow from his entire being. Anyone who sees him would be captivated.”

Ramon casually ignored the Baron’s objection and continued confidently.

“So we’re trying to show His Lordship’s magnificent form to Madam, and we’d like you to add some encouragement from the side. Things like ‘there’s no other man like this in the world’ or ‘he’s more handsome than the sun god,’ you get the idea, right?”

I don’t get it at all.

“Then you go ahead to the training ground and get ready. I need to go escort Madam!”

“Wait, hold on!”

The Baron looked up at the still dim sky.

He was about to warn that Madam would be extremely furious if woken at this hour—that the sun needed to be at least overhead to avoid her wrath—but Ramon looked so genuinely excited that he decided to let it go.

Some lessons can only be learned through direct experience.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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